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PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) – Pirates General Manager Neal Huntington feels strongly in the direction that his major league club has gone under Manager Clint Hurdle, and while they aren’t all the way where they want to be, he was happy enough with the results to reward Hurdle with a new contract.

Huntington joined Starkey, Miller and Mueller on 93.7 The FAN to talk about the extension given to Hurdle and what the process was like in evaluating the job he has done.

“We feel strongly about the direction that our major league teams gone under Clint,” he said. “Obviously we haven’t got to the levels that we expect to get to. But to go from where we were when he walked in here … he’s had an impact on us from bottom to top and top to bottom, and as we look at returning Pirates baseball to championship levels, we see Clint Hurdle as the manager in the dugout.”

Huntington also talked with us about expectations at the major league level this year for Pedro Alvarez coming off his 30 home-run performance last year, and how the team plans on using him in the lineup.

We wrapped things up getting the latest insight into the Neil Walker contract situation with the Pirates, and if we can expect to see a long-term contract get done.